TechnologyHumans are tool-users, and technology is where our science becomes reality, giving us the powerful electronic and mechanical tools that mostly make our lives easier, yet more complex, and at times frustrating.

If it isn't the banks trying to nickel and dime consumers, there's always some other industry that’s willing to step up to plate and milk customers for a few extra dollars every month. Today, we learn that the largest wireless carrier in the United States, Verizon Wireless, is going to start implementing a $2 convenience fee on payments made over the phone and even online.

Here, companies fall over themselves trying to get you to pay online - it's easier & faster. We do our banking & bill paying online & it was dirt simple to set up & has never caused us a moment's grief.

Most outfits want to avoid the labor and expense of having to send hard copy bills in the mail. Not long ago, Puget Sound Energy suddenly refused to allow me to pay online unless I signed up for e-billing so they didn't have to mail a bill; I have been paying online for some months. Heck, it's hard enough for me to keep track of the bill I receive in the mail; I'd never keep track of one e-mail in many. So I mail them a check every two months, and they enjoy the labor of handling and processing it.

I've been paying Verizon online, each time as a "one time transaction," no automatic payments. If they start charging me $2 to do so, then I'll be mailing a check. They'll just get their money a little later.

I'm not so sure they can charge you extra just for receiving your bill in the mail the old fashioned way. After all, they'd be discriminating against people like my parents, who have no internet access.

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America has ten times too many police, a hundred times too many citizens unwilling to take responsibility for their own defense and the consequences of their own actions, a thousand times too many politicians who wrongly believe they have the right to tell others how to live their lives, and a million times too many illegal aliens.

Not to mention that there's a significant movement of people, including myself and DH, pledging to opt for paper billing with detailed statements. The cost to Verizon for that would be greater than what they'd earn from this BS "convenience fee".